Conservation Almanac

Trinity County Resource Conservation District

Fall 1999 Vol. VIII No. 4

Trinity County Fire Safe Council Responds to Fire Risk

Recognizing the importance of the Countys forests on our lives and the significance of the fire risk, the Trinity County RCD joined the Fire Safe Council when it was formed late last year. In the wake of the devastating Lowden Fire and the more recent Big Bar Complex of fires, the Trinity County Fire Safe Council is compelled to address all landowners in Trinity County. What occurred in Lewiston can very easily occur in your community. Whether a fire starts from natural causes such as lightening, or is human-induced as a result of a discarded cigarette, wood stove embers, a cars catalytic converter, or the lack of spark arrester on equipment, the fire risk in this county is intense. Fuel loads have built up over the past 40 years. When a fire does occur, it tends to be catastrophic rather than one that can be easily defended against. The costs and frequency of wild land fires are increasing. The Lewiston fire dramatized this point all too clearly for us. Hopefully this disaster can have a silver lining, if it alerts other landowners to the fact that we can no longer be complacent about the situation. Fire risks increase as human encroachments expand in forested areas. It is time to stop talking about it and take action! We need to do everything we can to be prepared for fire. The Fire Safe Council intends to do everything possible to keep homes and communities from being
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Homeowner Fire Safety Guidelines

destroyed by fire. Planning and education are key to our mission. The Trinity County fire planning effort has multiple parts including: 1) Developing a strategic plan for the management of fire based on local expertise and the latest fire
(Continued on page 6)

Also In This Issue:

Covington Mill Fuels Reduction Lowden Fire Rehabilitation District Managers Corner Kids Page
Fall Issue 1999

Trinity County Resource Conservation District

about half of the organic matter in the soil. The less you The Trinity County Resource till, the more carbon you keep in the soil to build orConservation District owns ganic matter to promote fua Great Plains End-Wheel ture productivity. No-till Drill and we are encouraging landowners to Improved water quality crop discover the benefits the residues help hold soil partiNo-till drill can make on cles and associated nutrients their properties. and pesticides on the field, The machine is designed es- cutting

TCRCDs No-till Drill

talization Team (CERT) program. The Master Plan will help prioritize projects and assist in the ability to obtain funds to implement the projects.

pecially for the over-drilling of pasture and the direct drilling of crop seeds and fertilizers. A variety of soil types, moisture and trash conditions can be tolerated with this equipment. The drill is 10 wide and about 10 long and pulls easily behind a truck ( ton or greater for steeper grades). The RCD charges a rental fee of $75 per day, making the drill a cost-effective tool.

Reduced soil erosion minimizes soil disturbance. Decreased soil compaction reduced weight and horsepower requirements with notill will minimize compaction. Improved soil tilth no till increases soil particle aggregation which makes it easier for water to move through the soil and allows plants to use less energy to establish roots. Please call (530) 623-6004 for more information on the no-till drill.

Supervisor Chris Erikson assisting the design team with trail alignment

Weaverville Basin Trail CommitteePublic Meetings

The Weaverville Basin Trail Committee held two public meetings over the past few months to obtain public input Benefits of Conservation regarding the in-town compoTillage: nents of the trail system. This information will be incorReduced labor as little as 1 trip for seeding compared porated into the Weaverville Basin Trail Master Plan being to 2-3 for conventional tilldeveloped through funds age/planting. from the US Forest Services Improved long-term produc- Community Economic Revitivity carbon accounts for
No till Drill 2 Trinity County Resource Conservation District

Approximately 60 interested citizenshikers, bicyclists, adjacent property owners and motorcyclists attended these two meetings to provide input to the design team. The participants had the opportunity to see some broad concepts on what a completed trail system could do to highlight the uniqueness and beauty of the Weaverville Basin, including historical and natural features of the area. Discussion included the design of such key features as trailheads, informational kiosks, and various trail surfaces for different uses. The Master Plan is expected to be completed this month. Sponsors of this project include the RCD, NRCS, and the Resource Conservation & Development Council.
Fall Issue 1999

K I D S P A G E
Help Ted the Tanager Find His Winter Home in Mexico
Many of the birds that we see around our homes all summer are not here in the winter. Birds like robins, hummingbirds and western tanagers spend the winter in warmer places like the deserts of southern Arizona, and the tropical forests of Mexico and Costa Rica. They return to Trinity County in the springtime when the weather gets warmer to build nests and raise families. This is called migration. Ted the Tanager is a western tanager. Youll recognize him by his bright yellow breast, black wings and orange head. In Trinity County he sits on the very tops of trees and sings all day long. It is time for him to find his way to the lush, green forests of southern Mexico for the winter. Help Ted find his way through the maze below.

Summer

Winter
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Covington Mill Fuels Reduction Project

The RCD obtained funds to implement a fuels reduction project and develop a strategic plan for the Covington Mill community from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protections (CDF) Forest Stewardship Project. This was submitted at the request of the neighborhood, many of whom have been concerned about the buildup of fuels and the high risk of fire. The RCD has contracted with Ken Baldwin, a local Registered Professional Forester, to prepare a strategic plan for the area. He is working with CDF, the US Forest Service, Sierra Pacific Industries and area residents to gather relevant information to assess high risk areas in order to come up with a prioritized list of projects that should be completed to minimize the threat of fire in this community. As a pilot project, the RCD worked with participating landowners to reduce fuel loads and fuel ladders on private property around Guy Covington Drive. We had a tremendous response from the community (most likely the spate of recent fires in the county added to the interest). About 20 landowners worked to clear underbrush and fuel ladders on their property. The RCD then chipped the material that was piled up on the roadside. We had more people and material than anticipated, and with the current funds available, were barely able to complete the chip4

Charley Gacek and Jack McGlynn Chipping Material Cleared by Landowners in the Covington Mill Community ping of all of the material provided. With the success of this project, we hope to obtain additional funds to implement additional work and convince other neighbors to participate during the next phase of the project. There are now several great examples of what a good defensible space around a home should look like in this community and should serve as an example or model to other landowners and other communities in the county. Other aspects of this project include implementing a buffer along Long Canyon Road and continuing outreach efforts with the Long Canyon and Lake Forest Communities encouraging participation in additional phases of fuels reduction efforts in this area of the county. One of the landowners who was instrumental in the success of this project, John Griffin, stated, This has been very, very gratifying. The community members acted with great enthusiasm to get their neighborhood fire safe, and to help keep it from going up in smoke. We really look forward to the RCD getting additional funding to keep the project going next year. We have made significant headway, but additional work is necessary. The drawing on the front page of this newsletter depicts what we are aiming to achieve.

Trinity County Resource Conservation District

Fall Issue 1999

Lowden Fire RehabilitationRCDs Role

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requested the assistance of the RCD to utilize local labor to implement restoration projects in order to rehabilitate the burned area of the Lowden Fire, which affected approximately 2,000 acres and adjacent downslope properties. In August the RCD Board of Directors came to an agreement with BLM authorizing expenditures of up to $1.8 million dollars through federal fiscal year 2002 to implement several aspects of the Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) plan. The Board also agreed to be the local sponsor for the Natural Resource Conservation Services Emergency Watershed Protection program for the fire in July. These projects include: Rehabilitate handlines, dozer lines, drop points, staging areas, and unnecessary access roads which were a result of fire suppression activities. Remove debris from existing culverts and replace inadequate drainage culverts. Remove debris from basins. Remove residual floatable debris from channels and flood plains. Reforest by planting native (commercial) conifer species. Revegetate using a variety of native non-commercial species. Monitor reforestation, aerial seeding, and revegetation success. Inventory of private access roads for erosion problems. A primary function of the RCD is to provide assistance to landowners. The RCD has a solid record of providing the types of assistance that will be needed in the coming months, and possibly years for the rehabilitation of the Lowden Fire burned area. We are the local agency with the expertise in revegetation, soil stabilization, and sediment control. Our experience in Grass Valley Creek watershed and with decomposed granite is important to the success of the rehabilitation effort. The RCD has a long history of working closely with the BLM and the other agencies that will be involved in the project. Community outreach and education also will be a critical task to assure that best management practices are used and maintained to protect private property and the natural resources in the area of the fire. The RCD has the experience and the tools to assist in this effort.

Glimpse From the Past

The remains of the East Fork Ranch Barn is located on the Wildwood Road at the junction of East Fork and Hayfork Creek. This barn is on the large flat that was the site of the McCampbell home in the 1890s. A cluster of homes used to be located in this area. East Fork Ranch Barn
5 Trinity County Resource Conservation District Fall Issue 1999

(Continued from page 1)

ecological science. This plan will use fire models and GIS for indications of where primary fuel breaks, staging areas, community protection perimeters, etc. should be located. This plan also will assist in prioritizing risk in order to indicate areas that can most effectively be treated and have the most impact in providing safer communities, 2) fuels reduction demonstration projects on private lands, 3) forest restoration, and fuels reduction demonstration projects on public lands, 4) implementation of the strategic plan, 5) coordination and enhancement of emergency response to protect assets at risk, and 6) public outreach and education. The Trinity County Fire Safe Council, with the support of the Trinity County Board of Supervisors, consists of local Volunteer Fire Departments, the Trinity County Planning Department, the Trinity County Resource Conservation District (RCD), the Watershed Research and Training Center (WRTC), as well as local representatives of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), US Forest Service (both Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers), and Bureau of Land Management. Community organizations such as SAFE, Women in Timber, and Trinity Bioregion Group also are members. They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a coordinated program for fire management in the county by identifying high risk areas and undertaking strategic planning to reduce those risks on private and public lands using a locally-led planning proc6

ess. If you are interested in this process, meetings of the Fire Safe Council are held on the fourth Thursday of each month at the Weaverville Fire Hall at 7 p.m. The Trinity County Fire Safe Council would like to encourage landowners to take a critical look at their property and take steps necessary to create defensible space around homes and to thin overstocked forested areas. The RCD and CDF have been working with a few neighborhoods that have expressed interest in making their areas safer. These include East Branch in Weaverville, Covington Mill, and Hyampom Road in Hayfork. We soon will be implementing similar demonstration projects with landowners in Timber Ridge (Weaverville) and Post Mountain (South of Hayfork), who have expressed interest in reducing the risk of fire in their community. The WRTC has implemented several projects to reduce fuels on US Forest Service lands. It is hoped that future treatments can be done on an integrated basis rather than a piecemeal one, so that the treatments will be as effective as possible in reducing the threat of catastrophic fire.

Breaking up the continuity of fuels Removing fuel ladders Irrigating the landscape around your home Stacking wood at least 100' away and uphill from the house and other structures Installing or replacing your address sign to be visible to firefighters Making sure roads are passable for fire fighting equipment Contacting CDF or RCD for more ideas on how to reduce the fire risk in your area. Definitions*

Defensible Space is that area between a house and an oncoming wildfire where the vegetation has been modified to reduce the threat and allow firefighters to safely defend the house. Fuel Ladders are created by layers of flammable material that allow a fire to move from the ground to the tree canopy. Assets at risk includes homes and other structures, as well as forestland. Fire risk is the chance of a fire starting based on several factors such as humans, their equipment, and their facilities. Fuel condition is a combination of fuel The Trinity Fire Safe Council recom- size, quantity, arrangement, and the ramends that landowners protect their tio of dead to live material. homes and land by: Fire hazard is composed of fire risk, fuel condition, weather (including Creating adequate defensible temperature, humidity and wind) and space around structures minimize or eliminate tall grass, topography. GIS - Geographic Information Systems weeds and dense brush are used to map and analyze landscape remove accumulations of scale information such as fire risk and woody debris, leaves, and pine hazards.

needles replace highly flammable plants with fire resistant species remove trees, especially highly flammable ones, within 10' of structures

* Excerpted from the CDFs, Forest Stewardship Program newsletter.

Trinity County Resource Conservation District

Fall Issue 1999

years to run the rivers. During those annual visits they began to look for, and eventually found, a special hide-away at Tangle Blue in Pat Frost the north county. The attraction to our ity County dedicated staff like Charley Gacek and Jack McGlynn, who spent peaceful, rural living grew stronger, until As a property owner it seems like there are several days working with the residents in finally 9 years ago they gave up the hustle always chores that need to be done. They Covington Mill and Noreen Doyas unwaver- and bustle of places like Sonoma and Humvary by the season, but they are there every ing efforts to find financial support for fuels boldt counties for full-time residency here. year. You all know what I am talking about. management projects. We invite everyone How many of us; though, include maintaining in Trinity County to join us, and to make a This isnt the first time that Helen has our property to reduce the risk of fire? I am Fire Safe landscape a regular part of your worked at the RCDs offices on Horseshoe not just talking about cleaning out the chim- home maintenance. Lane. Her first job in Trinity County was ney, but really taking a close look at the with the Trinity County Rural Indian Health landscape that surrounds our homes and Clinic when it was located in these same ofEmployee Feature making sure that we have done what we can fices. Most recently Helen worked at Trinity Helen Aunspach to provide a defensible space. Hospital, as the Med/Surgical Unit Secretary. Not many people can lay claim to starting a Helens early training was in psychiatric The recent fires in Trinity County should be a nursing, and over time she developed an exnew job on April Fools day, but that is reminder that creating and maintaining a fire pertise in bookkeeping. what Helen Aunspach, the Trinity County safe environment is something we all can do. RCDs new Fiscal Manager did. Helen was This year Carol, my wife, and I have been born and raised in Red Bluff, and attended Helen has pretty much hung up her paddle. building a home. We consulted with the CaliShasta College and later College of the Red- Now she dedicates her free time to gardenfornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protecwoods before entering the medical profes- ing. She is an avid organic gardener, and tion. CDF has simple, easy to follow guidesion. Her work experience has been as var- has been developing an expertise in habitat lines that are as important to our safety as ied as Napa State Hospital, Sempervirens in gardening. Habitat gardening is the blendany part of the building code. ing of traditional gardening with the surHumboldt County and the Trinity County rounding landscape, and emphasizes the use Probation Department. In this issue of the Conservation Almanac, you of native plants, Helen proclaimed with will see examples from around the county great enthusiasm. where your neighbors are planning and implementing Fire Safe programs. In Covington When not tending her gardens or driving Mill, as in other rural residential communities, shuttles for her husbands kayaking runs, you the homeowners are working with the RCD to just might see her renovating the homestead create defensible space. The Trinity County at Tangle Blue or keeping Gus, her pet Fire Safe Council, a group of concerned citigoose, company. zens and agencies, is dedicated to designing a plan for safer, healthier forests within TrinMeeting Reminders ity County. Fire Safe Council Meetings

District Managers Corner

The Resource Conservation District has been directing significant resources towards the Fire Safety and Forest Health issues in Trin-

Helen and her husband, Joe, have been resiat the Weaverville Fire Hall at 7 pm. dents of Trinity County since 1990, but South Fork Coordinated Resource their attraction to our wonderful corner of Management Planning Group October 14Weaverville Library California goes back many years. As avid December 2Fairgrounds, Hayfork kayakers, Helen and Joe were visiting Trin- Trinity River Task Force November 18-19 ity County every spring and fall for many
Fall Issue 1999

the fourth Thursday of each month

Trinity County Resource Conservation District